All the cast members received a loud round of applause, though Pedro Pascal, who plays Oberyn Martell The Red Viper, got the loudest response it seemed. Moderator Craig Ferguson jokingly asked the panel which of them was still alive on the show, considering that some of the actors’ characters were killed off (a specialty of Martin’s).

A blooper reel was shown, but the big reveal for the panel was a video introducing the new cast members for season five and something about their characters (mostly, their weaponry). Filming will take part for some scenes in Spain, Ireland, and Croatia, and will introduce more of the Dornish characters. The standout actors revealed for next season include Alexander Diddig (of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame) as Doran Martell, Jonathan Pryce as High Sparrow, and Keisha Castle-Hughes (from Whale Rider) as Obara Sand, the bastard daughter of Oberyn Martell.

Watch the new cast member video here below.

Doran Martell – Alexander Diddig (from Deep Space Nine)

Trystane Martell – Toby Sebastian

Myrcella Baratheon – Nell Tiger Free

Areo Hotah – DeObia Oparei

Yezzan – Enzo Cilenti

Nymeria (Nym) – Sand Jessica Henwick

Tyene Sand – Rosabell Laurenti Sellers

Obara Sand – Keisha Castle-Hughes (from Whale Rider)

High Sparrow – Jonathan Pryce

The showrunners talked about how doing the show came about — when Martin meet with Benioff and Weiss, he asked them, Who is Jon Snow’s mother? Satisfied with their answer, Martin decided to let them do the show.

Cast members talked about walking on set — Kit Harrington and Jon Snow’s hair products (his hair is under contract too!); Gwendoline Christie uttered to Rory McCann (The Hound) about how her character kicked the Hound’s ass (“I thought you got off lightly,” she said to him); and John Bradley on filming in such cold temperatures (the Night’s Watch attire keeps everyone warm but the face, which hinders their acting abilities).

During the audience Q&A portion of the panel, a fan dressed as Jon Snow asked Harrington and Leslie about the scene during the battle when Jon Snow and Ygritte see each other again. Harrington says he thinks he’s just happy to see her and doesn’t care about flying arrows; Leslie says her character was on a ruthless mission to get back at her former lover, and didn’t realize how much she truly loved him until she saw him again. She also revealed that she and Harrington didn’t really discuss the scene much beforehand, as they wanted to just let things happen naturally.

When asked about her character, whether she still identifies as a Stark or another persona she’s had to adopt, or someone new, Maisie Williams said, “She is no one,” which loosed a roar from the crowd.

Regarding nudity on the show, Harrington says he didn’t want to comment on it because he didn’t want to have to get his “full kit off” next season, while John Bradley had the audience in stitches saying he wouldn’t cave in to the pressure of nudity, but that if he were to do a nude scene, the “boob count” would go up.

The showrunners said we can expect to see more of Stannis next season; Martin revealed that the character Jeyne Westerling will be featured in the prologue of The Winds of Winter, the next book in the author’s “Song Of Ice and Fire” series the show is based on; and that “dragons are easier to work with” on the show (this one jokingly came up after the panel members were asked “Dragons or Direwolves”).